Updated
Most people check the mattress, find nothing, and conclude they do not have bed bugs. The mattress is the obvious place and often the emptiest one, because a population that has been running for any length of time has already spread outward.
Bed bugs want a tight crevice within reach of a sleeping person. That describes a great deal more of a bedroom than a mattress seam. Here is where they actually sit, roughly in the order worth checking. If any of it turns up, bed bug control is the next call.
What you are looking for
Before the locations, know the signs, because live bugs are the thing you are least likely to see.
- Dark spots the size of a pen dot that smear reddish brown when wiped with a damp cloth
- Shed skins, pale translucent shells, often several together
- Eggs, about a millimeter, pearly white, glued into a crack
- Live bugs, flat and oval, apple seed size down to nearly invisible for the young
Work with a bright flashlight held at a low angle, which throws shadows into crevices, and a thin card or old credit card to run along seams and joints. A phone flashlight held flat against a surface is adequate.
Dark spotting along a seam is the most common first find.
The bed itself, beyond the mattress
The box spring. Far more productive than the mattress. Check the fabric edge all the way around, then turn it on its side and inspect the underside and the wooden frame inside. The dust cover stapled underneath hides a great deal; lifting a corner of it is often where the evidence is.
The bed frame joints. Every bolt hole, every joint between rail and post, every screw recess. Wooden frames are worse than metal because they offer more crevices.
The headboard. One of the two or three most reliable spots in the room, and almost never checked because it usually has to come off the wall. Look at the back face, the mounting brackets, any buttoning or tufting, and the gap where it meets the wall.
Slats and the support frame, including the undersides and the ends where they sit in the rail.
Furniture people never check
Bed bugs will settle anywhere within reach of a host, and a nightstand is as good as a mattress.
- Nightstands and dressers, particularly the drawer runners, the joints at the back and the underside of each drawer
- Upholstered chairs in a bedroom, along the piping, under the cushions and inside the dust cover beneath
- The recliner or sofa if anyone sleeps or dozes in it regularly, which is common and often the real center of a problem
- Drawer contents in a heavy case, including folded clothing that has sat undisturbed
- Luggage stored under the bed or in a cabinet, especially the lining seams and wheel recesses
Any joint, seam or recess within a few feet of the bed is worth examining.
The room, not just the furniture
This is where most self inspections stop short.
Outlet and switch plates. Remove the cover screw and look behind. Wall voids are a classic harborage and the plate is the access point. Do this with the power off at the breaker.
Baseboard and trim, particularly the top edge and any gap where it has pulled from the wall, and the quarter round at the floor.
Loose or peeling wallpaper, and the edges of wall paper seams.
Curtain hems and pleats, and the rod brackets.
Picture frames and wall art near the bed, behind the frame and inside the backing paper.
Smoke detectors and ceiling fixtures in a heavy infestation, which sound improbable until you have found them there.
Carpet edges where the carpet meets the tack strip at the wall.
Books and clutter stacked on a nightstand, including the spine channels.
Why they spread outward
Bed bugs start close to the host and move further as the population grows and the crevices nearest the bed fill up. That gives a rough rule: a problem confined to the mattress and box spring is probably recent, while evidence in the baseboard, outlet plates and a dresser across the room means it has been running for months.
It also means an inspection that finds nothing on the bed has not ruled anything out. It has checked one piece of furniture.
How to work through a room
- Strip the bed completely and bag the linen rather than carrying it loose through the house
- Check the mattress seams, tufts and label area, then the box spring edge, underside and dust cover
- Take the frame apart as far as is practical and check every joint and bolt hole
- Pull the headboard off the wall and check both faces and the brackets
- Move to the nightstand and any upholstered seating, including undersides
- Then the room itself: baseboard, outlets, curtains, frames, carpet edge
- Note exactly where anything was found, which tells a technician how far it has spread
Work outward from the bed in stages rather than searching at random.
What makes a room harder to inspect
Two things reliably hide a population from an honest search.
Clutter. Stacked boxes, piles of clothing, books and general storage under and around a bed multiply the number of crevices beyond anything a person can check, and they block access to the trim and outlets behind. A cluttered room is also harder to treat, since material cannot reach harborage it cannot get to.
Dark fabric and dim light. Dark spotting on a navy box spring or a patterned mattress is genuinely difficult to see, and young bed bugs are pale and nearly translucent. Inspecting under a ceiling light with the naked eye misses a great deal that a flashlight held at a low angle picks up immediately.
If a room has both, a negative result from a self inspection means very little.
A word on the rest of the house
If a bedroom is confirmed, the inspection does not stop there. Any room where someone regularly sleeps or sits still for long periods deserves the same treatment, and that often means a living room sofa or a recliner more than a second bedroom.
In an apartment or a shared building, adjoining units matter as well, since bed bugs travel along utility runs and through shared walls. Bed bugs in upholstered furniture covers the sofa side of it.
What not to do while looking
Do not vacuum the evidence away before anyone has seen it, since the spread pattern is diagnostic. Do not spray as you go, which drives them deeper into walls and voids. Do not start moving furniture into other rooms, which is the single most reliable way to turn one infested room into three. And do not discard the mattress, which rarely solves anything and carries the problem through the hallways of a building on the way out.
Stewart Termite & Pest Control inspects for bed bugs across the Pittsburgh area and has since 1987. Call 412-822-7610 or request an estimate online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do bed bugs hide besides the mattress?
The box spring and its dust cover, bed frame joints, the headboard and its brackets, nightstands, upholstered chairs, baseboard, outlet plates, curtain hems and the carpet edge at the wall.
What is the most commonly missed hiding spot?
The headboard, because it usually has to come off the wall to inspect, and the underside dust cover of the box spring.
Can bed bugs live in walls?
They harbor in wall voids and reach them through outlet and switch plates, trim gaps and loose wallpaper. This is also why spraying tends to push a problem deeper rather than ending it.
I checked the mattress and found nothing. Am I clear?
No. A mattress is one piece of furniture, and an established population has usually spread to the frame, headboard and surrounding room. An empty mattress rules out very little.
What does bed bug evidence look like?
Dark pen dot spots that smear reddish brown when wiped damp, pale translucent shed skins, millimeter sized pearly eggs glued into cracks, and flat oval bugs.
Should I throw out my mattress?
No. It rarely resolves anything, since the population is usually spread beyond it, and moving it through a building spreads bugs along the way.